4 am
by Floranna
Summary: The kid was screaming. Again.


The kid was screaming. Again. Chris Mustang sighed and rose from the bed. She glanced at the clock and sighed again. It was 4 am. Slowly she started walking towards Roy's room. He had woken up screaming every night for the month he had been here and it was taking toll on everyone who was near enough to hear him. But still the screaming was the only sound heard from him. Otherwise he never said a word.

The room was small and empty. They had tried to decorate it, but it was still very bare, having only bed, lamp and bedside table. The bed was empty. As in nights before, Chris went to on her knees and looked under the bed. Roy was curled into a tight ball at the farthest corner, eyes wide in fright.

"A bad dream again, huh?" said Chris with a-matter-of-fact tone but still maintaining soothing effect. The small boy nodded his head slowly. Chris started crawling under the bed but stopped when she saw Roy tensing up more.

"You should come to the bed, it cannot be warm in here" Slowly Roy started to move out and together they got into the fresher air. He was breathing a bit shallowly but it was nothing too worrying. "Would you like some warm milk?" A small nod.

Getting to kitchen was a bit tricky, especially when the old floorboards were quite creaky. Roy wore a very concentrated expression on his face when he lightly took another step, and slowly pulled more weight on it so that it wouldn't creak. Chris had to bite back a smile. It was good to see him acting like a kid.

When Roy was downing carefully the hot drink she kept on chattering something inconsequential little things. Roy was now far more relaxed and the fear was gone from his eyes. Maybe he would start to open up a little more soon. He was smiling now, widely and showing all of his teeth. He had lost his front tooth yesterday and looked a bit like a tiny pirate, only missing the eye patch. When she mentioned this, he started giggling.

After awhile when she had tucked Roy in to his bed, she went to the balcony and took up a cigarette. Not one of her usual, but cheaper and more common. Quality was below her usual standards but it was good enough at this time of night.

One of her girls, Milla, came next to her and took one of the cigarettes. The silence was calming and relaxed. Milla was one of her oldest and soon she would leave and start the path of independency. Her plan was going to become a nurse, and her schooling was nearing the end. She would miss her, as she did every other.

"Is he alright?"

"Better than at the beginning. Now he falls asleep much faster."

Milla smiled, little relieved. At first days, when Roy awoke from his nightmares, he had tended to run and hide. If he could, he would also run outside. There was the one time they had to call the police to help finding him. They had found him on next day, sleeping in a sewer.

Remembering that eased her mind a little. He had truly gotten better. He had also gained little weight and didn't look like a starving street-rat anymore. Roy had started to play with toys and be more like a child every day. You still couldn't leave him eat alone, though, or he would start stuffing his stomach with all the food until he would be sick. You had to always take the food away from him when it seemed he had had enough.

Chris stumped what was left of her cigarette and turned to her own room. She needed to sleep or tomorrow would be hellish. Milla came in with her and left to her own room. She just stumbled to her bed without bothering to turn the lights on and fell asleep almost immediately.

***

The next morning was a small whirlwind, as usual. Getting girls to their respective schools was a task hard enough but keeping an eye at Roy, too, that how much ate and didn't hide somewhere was a task she felt was almost impossible to do in the mess. Luckily Milla was taking care of Roy this morning. She had talked something about taking Roy to the park when Chris herself would be doing her own job.

He had been in a very good mood the whole morning and it affected everyone around him too. It was somehow easier to smile and laugh in the rush. The night didn't seem to weigh on him at all. It was a relief. Usually he was a bit sullen at the mornings but today seemed to become a fine exception.

Several hours later Milla came in, red-faced and smiling. She could hear sound of kids laughing in the hallway. "Roy has made few friends in the park", Milla had only time to say when Roy and two other kids rumbled in. The first was an ishvalan with a band-aid on his cheek and the other was a black-haired boy with a cheeky grin and glasses. They were both speaking animatedly and Roy was listening them with an attentive look on his face. When the ishvalan kid shouted that he wanted to play tag, he touched the other kid and started running away, Roy hot on his heels. The last one ran shrieking after them.

Chris raised an eyebrow to Milla who smiled even more and pranced away, humming along. Chris sighed, grinned and then went to check that the boys hadn't broken anything in their hurry. She could still hear their shouts and screams of joy. She couldn't be sure if she heard three different voices and silently walked to the living room they were playing in. Roy had been tagged and was shouting to them. As quietly as she could she tiptoed away. Chris laughed lowly and went back to her study. Things were definitely getting better.


End file.
